Arrests are down as jail population increases

Tuesday

Oct 15, 2013 at 12:01 AM

STOCKTON - A new report on jail needs concludes the number of arrests in the county has declined over the past five years, yet the jail population has increased as felony inmates under AB109 stay longer behind bars.

Jennie Rodriguez-Moore

STOCKTON - A new report on jail needs concludes the number of arrests in the county has declined over the past five years, yet the jail population has increased as felony inmates under AB109 stay longer behind bars.

And the substantial flood of felony inmates in San Joaquin County Jail is driving a need for higher security, according to a Jail Needs Assessment that looks at recent population changes and state projections for the county.

It's an updated look at the jail's necessities last quantified in a 2008 report.

According to the latest assessment, the rate of felons in the jail has increased to 94 percent compared with five years ago when the rate was 80.2 percent.

"The overall effect of these shifts is a jail population that is more criminally sophisticated and difficult to manage," the report states.

The assessment prepared by an outside firm accompanies Sheriff Steve Moore's plan to seek state funding to replace the jail's aging Honor Farm with a tighter security facility.

County supervisors approved the report last week along with the proposal that seeks a $40 million grant.

Had it not been for AB109, it appears bookings into the county jail would have reflected a downturn.

Demographic changes in the county's adult population may coincide with lower crime rates and jail bookings in the past several years, according to the assessment.

Most crimes are committed by offenders ages 16 to 24 in the general population and, in the prison population, from the ages 18 to 37, the assessment says.

County births, including births within poverty, dropped during a recessionary period in the early 1990s, accounting for today's lower number of residents in the age group considered to be "at-risk" to likely commit an offense.

The jail shows misdemeanor arrests plunged from 19,690 in 2007 to 12,825 in 2012 and felony arrests dropped from 11,538 to 8,121.

Although fewer people are going to jail than five years ago, local corrections facilities are full.

The jail used to be for inmates waiting on court cases to resolve and those sentenced to jail terms on misdemeanor charges.

Through a process known as realignment, AB109 has added felony convictions to the mix. The responsibility of certain low-level felony offenders was shifted from the state prison and parole system to local jails and probation departments in October 2011.

State parole revocations also are served in county jails instead of prisons.

The report says realignment has increased the average daily population at the jail by 396 inmates and led to more misdemeanor offenders getting released early to meet a court cap on the jail population.

Sentenced felony offenders stay longer, with an average sentence of three years - of which most serve about a third when the terms are split with supervised release and when custody credits are added.

"San Joaquin County has also seen a relatively large number of parole violators compared with other counties," the report states.

In 2012, the county jail booked 2,829 parole violators, and they spent an average of 36 days in custody and increased the jail population by about 280.

One of the problems posed by these offenders, the report says, is an increase in escapes at the Honor Farm. Last year, 10 inmates walked out of the facility.

Major recommendations listed for the county include more high-security housing.

The jail needs facilities for a "substantial proportion" of AB109 sentenced individuals that provide "high minimum" level of security with a secure perimeter, according to the report.